Popular Kaduna-based Pastor, Bawa Madaki has been sentenced to 14 years imprisonment by a Nasarawa High Court for human trafficking.

Madaki was sentenced without an option of fine in a judgment delivered by Justice Haruna Offor at the court sitting in the Mararaba area.

It was gathered that 48-year-old Madaki was arrested by the police in May 2015 before he was handed over to operatives of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons.

The pastor was arraigned on two counts of fraudulently procuring two underage children from their parents in the Zanzo Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

The NAPTIP Head of Press and Public Relations, Josiah Emerole, said Madaki’s actions contravened Section 19 (e) of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act.

Emerole said, “A cleric, Pastor Bawa Madaki, from Kaduna State, has been sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment for child trafficking. The accused was arraigned on two counts of fraudulently procuring two underage children from their parents.

“Madaki subsequently sent one child to Lagos State in an illegal adoption arrangement and the other to Abuja as a domestic worker, thus depriving their parents of the children.

“The trial commenced on June 23, 2015, and on Monday, March 26, 2018, the court found the accused guilty.”